Yuzawa Now: Friday 31st January 2020
- Jan 31, 2020
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 9cm
Snowfall at base this seas 127cm
Posted on Friday 31st January 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
4PM UPDATE
It has been snowing on and off during the day today, but no real significant change and generally just a few cm. (And frustratingly there is still none on the ground in town to the north of Yuzawa).
The local Niigata forecast is for around 8cm of snowfall in Minamiuonuma and around 20cm snowfall in Yuzawa between now and 9am tomorrow; and snow is still forecast through the day tomorrow.
The NASPA Ski Garden resort is hoping to re-open tomorrow (not 100% confirmed, will depend on the snow).
Fingers crossed!
[All information in this report apart from this text update is from the early morning timestamp]
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ORIGINAL MORNING REPORT
Good morning from Yuzawa.
I have good news this morning.
We have had some snow overnight and snow is forecast for the day (though we are seeing a bit of a break in it just at the moment).
This morning:
- Kagura is reporting 15cm fresh snowfall.
- Maiko Snow Resort is reporting 15-20cm of fresh snowfall (on the open upper area).
They are the specific numbers I can find being reported by resorts.
On the ground I can add a modest 9cm in central Yuzawa.
It is worth noting that just to the north in Yuzawa, north of Ishiuchi, there's 0cm on the ground... so it has unfortunately not been a blanket coverage over the whole region.
So, these are not particularly big numbers.
Higher slopes will certainly be enjoying refreshed snow conditions this morning which is good. (It is quite windy higher up so be prepared for that).
Most lower slopes around Yuzawa have a fresh white cover, but it is not enough to make that much of a difference yet. Snowfall is due through the day today with heavier snow likely later today and tonight. So fingers crossed.
Ishiuchi Maruyama are saying there is a good chance of more courses opening up from tomorrow (today they have 7 upper courses open), and I would imagine the same applying to other ski resorts if we can get a decent amount of snowfall by tomorrow morning.
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Individual ski resort information: Friday 31st January 2020
All information checked and updated manually for each report. Subject to change.
GALA Yuzawa
- All of the Central Area and Northern Area courses are open, except the Super Swan Course
- The Waggonette lift and Batman and Eliza Courses are open in the Southern Area
- Take the Gondola back down at the end of the day (Falcon downhill course not yet available)
- Official snow depth: 90cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
- Access via the Chuo and Kanko base areas
- 6 upper courses open
- Official snow depth: 70cm (upper); 40cm (mid)
Iwappara
- 5 lifts are operating with the central to upper area of the resort open
- Official snow depth: 40cm
Joetsu Kokusai
- 8 lifts operating (the Nagamine quad is operating to get up to the open top area)
- 5 courses open in the Panorama and Atema areas
- Official snow depth: 50cm
Kagura
- All areas of Kagura are normally open
- 20 of 23 courses open
- The Dragondola connecting with Naeba is operating
- Official snow depth: 150cm
Kandatsu Snow Resort
- A, B, C and E lifts plan to be operating
- Official snow depth: 95cm
Maiko Snow Resort
- The Gondola and top Okusoechi lifts are operating with 7 courses open in that top area.
- Take the Gondola back down to base.
- Maiko Area is currently closed.
- Official snow depth: 70cm (upper); 0cm (base)
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- Ropeway and Number 3 lifts operating
- 5 of 14 courses open
- Official snow depth: 100cm
Naeba
- Naeba is open with most courses available
- 19 of 22 courses open
- Official snow depth: 70cm
- Details on Naeba Now report here
NASPA Ski Garden
- Closed today and will re-open as soon as there is enough snow
Yuzawa Kogen
- Yuzawa Ropeway operating
- All Kogen lifts now operating and Kogen Snowland is open
- Base area is currently closed
- The Ropeway connecting Yuzawa Kogen with the Southern Area of GALA Yuzawa is currently closed
- Official snow depth: 60cm (Kogen); -cm (base)
Yuzawa Nakazato
- Number 2 and 3 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 30cm
Yuzawa Park
- Number 1 and 7 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 15cm
Yuzawa Now 2019-2020 season |
Data as of Friday 31st January 2020 Total snowfall at base so far 127cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 18 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 15cm (5th and 21st January) November 2019 snowfall 12cm reported on 1 day December 2019 snowfall 27cm reported on 7 days January 2020 snowfall 88cm reported on 10 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report.